Vol. 11, Issue No. 1: 26 JANUARY 2012 – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
Welcome to Volume 11, Issue No. 1 (26 January 2012) of Pharma Marketing News. Thank you for visiting. See the featured article summaries below.
John Mack, Publisher & Editor
editor@news.pharma-mkting.com
@pharmaguy Novo Nordisk Defends Choice of Paula Deen as Diabetes Spokesperson The Celebrity is the Message
Unless you are living under a rock on the Moon, you’ve probably heard that Novo Nordisk has teamed up with celebrity Southern-style chef Paula Deen as a paid spokesperson.
You also probably know that Deen has Type 2 diabetes and that Novo makes a drug to treat that condition and that Deen is currently taking that drug.
And you must know that Novo Nordisk and Deen have taken a lot of heat — eg, bad publicity — about this new relationship.
We also do not know if all the bad publicity has helped or hurt Novo’s efforts to promote its new “Diabetes in a New Light” website, which features new, diabetes-friendly recipes from Deen and her sons, Bobby and Jamie.
Considering all the bad publicity, Pharma Marketing News asked Ambre Morley, Associate Director, Product Communications, Novo Nordisk, to be a guest on Pharma Marketing Talk where she answered questions about why her company teamed up with Deen as a diabetes spokesperson.
Topics include:
- Why Did you Chose Paula Deen?
- Deen Versus Hoity-Toity Bourdain
- Not My Mama’s Meals
- What About Social Media, Y’all?
- The Celebrity Is the Message
- Deen Now Emphasizes Eating in Moderation
- Show Us the Money!
- SURVEY: Use of Celebrities by Pharma
Download full article (PDF) FDA Guidance on Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information Review of The Social Media Guidelines Nobody Expected!
Two days after Christmas, on December 27, 2011, while most of us were still on vacation, the FDA quietly issued “Guidance for Industry Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices.” Section VI. of this guidance addresses responding to unsolicited requests on public forums such as the Internet.
While this may not be the “social media” guidance many people were expecting, it does include guidelines for responding to unsolicited requests for off-label information encoun-tered through “emerging electronic media.”
This article takes a closer look at how the off-label guidelines apply to social media such as Youtube, Blogs, and Twitter.
Topics include:
- A Bit of History
- Defining “Off-label”
- What We Expected Was This
- In Best Interest of Public Health
- Public vs. Private, Solicited vs. Unsolicited
- Youtube and Solicited Requests
- Blogger Example of “Solicited Request”
- Proving Solicitation is Difficult
- Twitter Example of “Solicited Request”
- Private Responses and Serving the Public Interest
- Sales and Marketing May be Seen, but Should NOT Be Heard From!
- The Burden of Responding
- Docket Open for Comments
- Legal Challenges
- Chart: FDA Guidance Translator
Download full article (PDF) FDA Social Media Guidelines May Be Moot If This Court Decision Holds Up
Drugmakers dissatisfied with the FDA’s use of guidances as a form of policymaking — including long-awaited guidance for use of social media by the pharmaceutical industry — could find legal ammunition against the practice in the case “United States of America v. Franck’s Lab,” which is pending appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
“If the district court’s ruling is upheld,” says the Washington Legal FOundation, “its analysis on FDA’s use of guidance documents is likely to be cited in other FDA proceedings and legal challenges testing the agency’s right to enforce through guidance in lieu of regulations.”
Read more here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn111-article03.htm
Is There a Cure for Mediocre Pharma Mobile Apps? Listen Up, New Marketing Grads!
For new pharma marketing Graduates, I have just one word for you. Are you listening? Mobile!
Mobile is the new “shiny thing” of interest to pharmaceutical marketers.According to the currently-running “Predicting the Future of the Drug Industry: 2012 and Beyond” Pharma Marketing News survey, 72% of respondents agree/strongly agree that the next “BIG opportunity for targeted marketing to patients and physicians is mobile apps on smart phones.”
Until recently there were not many pharma mobile applications out there worthy of writing about. Most marketers were discussing only SMS (text messaging) as the best example of using mobile to motivate people to take their medicine. Boring!
There are no Rx pharma apps that directly help to sell drugs or vaccines. However, the OTC app featured in this article may be a good model for pharma when developing apps that have greater ROI potential.
Read more about that here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn111-article04.htm
